


an angel cried

by seperent



Series: the legacy [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Mai is Tom-Tom’s Mom, Multi, Soft Azula (Avatar), TW:, fire kids just being soft, gfs babysitting their bestie’s baby, the empty nests sequel, the softest shit ive ever written, they are going on the vacation, to the ember island
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29759976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seperent/pseuds/seperent
Summary: Mai has a secret, Ty Lee has a tired girlfriend, Azula has migraines and Zuko has nostalgia.[like waves washing away the footprints in the sand, ember island gives everyone a clean slate]
Relationships: Azula & Mai & Ty Lee, Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar), Mai & Tom-Tom (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Tom-Tom & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: the legacy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018383
Comments: 2
Kudos: 50





	an angel cried

**Author's Note:**

  * For [writingandwinter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingandwinter/gifts).



  
  
  
  
  


_ … and for the Earth Kingdom problem, I highly recommend to not intervene, until the situation reaches its peak point, or I myself will.. _

Someone snatches a half-written paper from her, and Azula frowns, lifting her head up. 

Zuko has the audacity to grin. 

— You promised to not work!

Azula fights the urge to roll her eyes, because yes, she did — but she promised to not work while they  _ are  _ on the Ember island, not on the way there. It’s not like she enjoys answering stupid advisors who can’t decide a thing without her — aren’t they supposed to be one who advise her? And Zuko is very fast to put away his Fire Lord responsibilities. 

She pushes these thoughts away — they are going on a vacation, even though it’s just a few days — still, that’s more of the rest than they had for a long time. 

And they are going all together — her, Zuko, Ty Lee and Mai. And Tom-Tom, of course — Azula can’t remember the moment when she started thinking of this child any different from other children, but now when he’s not with them, she finds herself looking around, not fully understanding what she is looking for. Zuko mocks her and calls her a hen. 

If someone is a hen, that’s Zuko, Azula calms herself down. 

  
  


She tries hard not to realise that she actually  _ knows  _ when Tom-Tom became not just a child, but the kid — when he just arrived with the army of nannies and she saw  _ his eyes.  _ Mai’s eyes. Then Mai hastily took him, and the similarity struck her again. And then Tom-Tom was everywhere with them, and Azula kind of got used, and no matters how pathetic it sounds, she’s going to be the mature one of them — she did shriek when he started walking unsteadily on his little legs, no matter how hard it delights Zuko. 

So. 

To the point. 

  
  


Azula walks out of her cabin on the ship, taking her surroundings in, observing. It’s sunny — she’s content it is, because if the day for which Ty Lee was budging her for already three months wasn’t sunny, she would snap. 

There she is. Ty Lee is sitting on the deck, right on the floor, basking in the sun rays, smiling contently. Her hair is up from her usual braid, instead put in a bun, and Azula takes a double take just because she can, and stares at the little curly hair on the nape of Ty Lee’s neck. Really pretty, long neck. 

  
  


Azula diligently counts from one to five, trying to snap out of the feeling she was in 

the moment before. It works, until Ty opens her big eyes, glowing under the soft light and gives her a big smile. 

— You’re done?

Azula tries to make her face at least a little annoyed, but judging by Ty’s expression it doesn’t work. 

— Did you send Zuko to poke me?

Ty Lee closes one of her eyes again, and winks. And doesn’t look guilty even at the slightest. 

— Maybe..

She gets up and interlaces her fingers with Azula’s, and she lets herself just linger in her touch. 

— You promised me to try and relax a little. 

Azula sighs and tries to pretend she doesn’t like feeling Ty’s fingers between hers. It doesn’t work. 

— Do you know where Zuko is?

Ty Lee grins and tugs her to the handrail. The weather is indeed nice today, and Azula is glad everything goes fine and Ty Lee looks happy, because something about her happy face makes Azula’s insides tug funny. She remembers her question and that Ty hasn’t answered it yet; instead she’s just staring at Azula’s face, and there is something so soft and unexpected (why is it still unexpected?) that makes her forget about it. 

— He's in the cabin with Mai and Tom-Tom. 

If someone is more excited to finally go on a vacation than Ty, it’s Tom-Tom — the giggle he gave when he saw the ship was something Azula still can hear, and this is nice — to see someone who needs so little to be excited about. Azula wants to keep him this way — happy and innocent. Wait, where did it come from?

  
  


Azula turns her head and sees Zuko walk out of the cabin, Tom-Tom sitting contently in his arms. He’s busy tugging the ends of Zuko’s hair and babbling something incoherent. Mai walks behind them, talking about something with Zuko quietly, her expression concerned, and Azula feels uneasy. What’s wrong?

They walk closer to Azula and Ty Lee, and then she can hear what they are talking about. 

— And he does not even repeat what he hears — I’m just wondering, if it’s me doing something wrong? — Mai lowers her voice after that, — or something happened to him in Omashu?

Then she turns her head, and sees them listening. She closes her eyes for the moment, and sharply turns away.  _ Embarrassed _ , Azula reads. 

Zuko notices that too, she sees, but he doesn’t acknowledge that. 

— Mai, please, do not worry — he will do everything in his own time. You’re making sure that he’s healthy, and happy, and for now that’s enough. 

Mai opens her eyes, but Azula sees that she’s not reassured yet. 

She feels Ty Lee squeeze her hand, and then she chirps in:

— Maybe he just doesn’t want to talk to us yet — do you, bub?

Ty coos to him, and bumps his nose, making Tom-Tom giggle — and then Azula sees worried lines on Mai’s forehead ease. 

— Do you know what you are going to do today when we arrive?

The servants, cooks, maids and nannies for Tom-Tom are going to arrive tomorrow, and for today — they are going to just settle by themselves, that’s what they’ve decided, without the rush and bustle. But now, when Azula looks at Mai’s worried and tired face, she thinks that maybe that wasn’t a good idea. Maybe they should just have let her rest?

— What do you think about me and ‘Zula watching Tom-Tom today, so you too can go out somewhere?

Huh. So Ty Lee picked up on that too. Not that she complains, but?

Mai looks uncertain and then watches Tom-Tom giggle at the faces Ty makes to him. 

— I mean.. maybe if..

Zuko takes her hand, and brushes her wrist a little, whispering something to her. She nods, slowly. 

— Yes, she agrees!

Ty Lee jumps up, and claps. 

Azula hopes nothing goes wrong, and wonders if she manages to sleep today at all, but the matching bright expressions on Ty and Tom-Tom’s faces tell her the opposite. 

//

  
  


Their house on the Ember Island is full of cool rooms, and Azula feels a bit of nostalgia hit her — that’s not the house they used to come to when they were children, but still — the whole atmosphere is familiar. The sea, rustling softly outside, buzz of the near city, the smell of salt in the air. Azula takes deep breath, content. It’s going to be hot tomorrow, but in the evening everything is pleasing. The sand is still warm, from the sun, and Ty doesn’t hesitate to take of her shoes, and walk barefoot, then looks at Mai, gets a confirming nod, and takes off Tom-Tom’s shoes too. 

He shrieks when she puts him down on the sand, and jumps up a little, but then giggles, delighted and Azula catches a long, soft look Mai gives him. 

  
  


//

  
  
  


Children are a mess, Azula finds out. They run around, take things and they can’t go to sleep, even when they are tired. 

Or maybe that’s especially Tom-Tom’s thing, she can’t know, it’s not like she saw a lot of children. 

He was already tired when they settled in, and Mai left with Zuko, but now he’s straight up exhausted — and Azula finds out that exhausted children are hysterical. 

He switches between crying and hesitatingly giggling at Ty Lee trying to entertain him constantly, like he’s not sure how to react, and Ty whispers to her that he's just tired and needs something calm to do, or even better — to sleep. Easy to say. Azula knows nothing about putting children to sleep, because back in the palace, when Mai was tired and no one was able to do it, that was Zuko’s task. He handles it unexpectedly well, and Azula hopes that means he’s going to be the one who’ll have an heir, because Azula doesn’t have this in her plans. 

She lowers herself on the carpet near them, and whispers to Ty Lee:

— Maybe if we just take him to the bedroom, he’ll see the bed and will.. get a hint?

Ty turns her head away from sniffling Tom-Tom for a moment and snorts. 

— Or we can just say “sleep” and he will fall asleep, according to you. But I think taking him to the bedroom might work. 

Azula picks Tom-Tom up, and his sniffles become lighter, but just a little. While they are going to the bedroom, she lights up a little fire on her hand, and the reaction is exactly the one she was hoping for — the sniffles become even more quiet, and the kid reaches out to the fire and tries to catch it. Azula is careful with bringing the flame further from him so he won’t start crying again, but also won’t burn himself. 

They walk in the room Ty Lee hogged earlier and threw both of their bags in — it has a big window with a veranda outside and a lot of low, patterned sofas all around the room. She lowers Tom-tom and he immediately starts weeping again, trying to get down from the bed. 

Ty Lee doesn’t let him do this and traps him from the other side, humming something soothingly. 

— Maybe you can sing, — Azula whispers, — then he falls asleep. 

What she doesn’t say is — i want to hear you singing, too. 

  
  


Ty Lee doesn’t hesitate to, and starts singing some melody Azula never heard her sing yet — it’s slow and melodious. Tom-Tom tries to escape a few times, but then lets it lull him to sleep. Azula listens to the way Ty’s voice flows and closes her eyes. 

— Are you asleep?

She can hear Ty Lee grin, and wants to open her eyes and prove her wrong, but doesn’t find herself able to. So she gives up. For now. 

— Maybe..

— Sleep. 

She feels fingers brush her forehead and drops off. 

  
  
  


//

  
  


— Mama!

Azula tries to open her eyes, but it works only for the third time — it’s dark in the room, and she tries to understand for a moment where she is — it doesn’t look like her room in the palace, and then she remembers that, another thing hits her — who screamed? She hasn’t heard that word for a long time. 

Ty Lee lifts her head up from the next pillow and looks around, her eyes sleep-lidded. Then Azula realizes that Tom-Tom is gone — and then she sees Mai. 

She cradles Tom-Tom to her chest, and Azula sees something glisten on her face in the dull light of the moon. If that wasn’t Mai, Azula would say she’s crying, but why she would be crying….

— He’s talking!

  
  


Ty Lee jumps up, suddenly, any signs of sleep gone from her face — she’s smiling, excited, and her hair jumps around her too, fluffy from sleeping.

Azula wants to ask Mai why she is crying, and how was her evening, and when did they come back, but then she recognizes the word Tom-Tom said — and Mai suddenly breaks down in full sobs, cradling him even closer to her chest. 

— Mama’s here, mama’s here..

Azula feels like she’s been hit in the chest, and nearly falls back — what’s going on, and she wants to ask, but Mai is still sobbing, so that will have to wait. 

Zuko walks in, observes the situation and comes closer to Mai. He places his hand around her shoulders. 

— Let’s all calm down and talk — you’re scaring Tom-Tom with all this yelling. 

Oh yes, Azula thinks, explanation is needed.

//

  
  


Mai closes her eyes for a moment, feeling a light breeze wash over her face. She savours the feeling, and the smell of salt in the air. There are other smells too — something spicy from the market, the smell of the wet earth — it was raining today. She opens her eyes and looks for Zuko. He ran away somewhere a few moments ago and told her to wait for him. 

She waits. 

He arrives in a few minutes, panting, with hands full of bundles. One of them is with fire flakes — she is content to take them and start chewing slowly, while Zuko fumbles with the others. In one of them there are mochi cakes for Tom-Tom. 

Tom-Tom. When she thinks about him, her worries go back — she’s not worried about him being with Azula and Ty Lee, because if someone can make sure that everything is okay with him, it’s them — but there is something else. 

Mai has a secret. 

Zuko looks at her and softly brushes her shoulder with his free hand, rubbing it in circles. He leans in to her, and she feels his breath on her neck. 

— Don’t worry; you're a great mother. 

//

Mai remembers a lot of things about being pregnant — more than half of them are not pleasing. 

But the main one she still sees in the nightmares — and that’s the thing she doesn’t remember, the memory of stranger’s hands on her body, rough hands, feeling helpless, useless and used — she remembers it in pieces. 

That doesn’t make her nightmares less painful. Doesn’t make her nightmares less realistic. 

//

Tom-Tom is a bright child, developing faster and faster with each day, and she finds it harder to remember — what’s her life been like before he was there with her?

But there is a feeling she remembers very clearly — the feeling of guilt, constant, endless feeling of guilt, that she escaped her parents' grip, she ran away, she’s fine, but she left — _ betrayed —  _ her son. 

Mai doesn’t know how he was there without her, and that’s the worst thing; she doesn’t know what happened to him, but he’s two, and he  _ doesn’t speak.  _

Mai lives with the guilt every day — the guilt for not doing enough for him to develop, the guilt for leaving him with her parents — she doesn’t know, it's overwhelming and choking. 

Zuko tells her that everything is going to happen in its own time, Zuko tells her that she’s doing her best, Zuko tells Tom-Tom stories and speaks with him. 

Sometimes Mai lets herself wonder how it would feel if  _ Zuko  _ was the father of her child. 

She’s also guilty for not telling Azula and Ty Lee, but the moment she imagines telling one more person, her insides start to boil and she squeezes her eyes shut. She can’t. 

  
  


//

  
  


They walk on the beach, and Zuko’s fingers are interlaced with her. She lets herself forget about everything for these moments — forget about guilt she carries, forget about the way her head hurts, and just bask in Zuko’s presence. 

He looks at her, his eyes shining, and Mai suddenly feels her inside bubble. She’s surprised about it as much as she's surprised how good she feels. 

Zuko leans in, slowly, and Mai has time to smile, before she feels his lips on hers. 

She’s calm. 

//

They are back to the house deep in the night, and Mai is a little worried to see what’s going on there — but it’s quiet, so she supposes that everyone is sleeping. That’s good, because Zuko can’t stifle his laughing. 

Mai goes to check on Tom-Tom, and he’s in the room with Ty Lee and Azula. He sleeps in the middle of the bed, hogging the bigger part of it, leaving them huddled. When she looks at his calm, sleeping face something inside her stirs and she feels something so strong she can’t breathe. 

Mai leans in and carefully brushes away dark curls from his forehead. Then he opens his eyes — Mai should feel guilty for waking him up, but for now she just looks him in the sleepy eyes and smiles. 

— Hi. 

— Mama!

Mai doesn’t breathe. 

Mai feels the world blur around her, feels her head spin, feels the blood pulse in her ears. 

Mai feels her eyes burn. 

Never, never she even dared hoping to hear it from him, and she feels something salty and cold on her lips. 

And then she picks him up, because it’s impossible and unnatural not to, it’s the most impossible thing in the world, and she cradles him close to her chest. That feels just like it felt when Tom-Tom was just born, when she used to sneak out in the night to his nursery to hold him. 

She sobs. That’s different, they are together and they are safe, and her son just said his first word, and she’s..

— Mama’s here, mama’s here..

Mai hears a yelp, and she sees that Ty Lee and Azula both are up, and she’s scared for a moment, but it’s quickly clouded by whatever she’s feeling when Tom-Tom nuzzles his nose in her neck. 

Zuko’s hand is around her shoulders and he says:

— Let’s all calm down and talk — you’re scaring Tom-Tom with all this yelling. 

Mai closes her eyes — the time came. 

//

Mai should be worried about how she’s going to explain any of it — how it happened, why didn’t she tell them earlier — but the thought of Tom-Tom finally saying his first word, and the relief and happiness she feels when thinking about it overshadows all. She takes a deep breath and feels Zuko’s fingers rub softly the arm with which she holds Tom-Tom. 

Zuko must think she’s dead worried, but she’s surprisingly okay. 

She feels Tom-Tom start slowly drifting off in her arms — at first he was very excited by the sudden night bustle, but he’s not used to being awake at this time, and he’s tired. Mai hopes that he falls asleep until they start talking, because she doesn’t want him to listen yet. 

Azula and Ty Lee get out of the bed, and Mai decides that they better not talk here. She points to the open balcony outside, indicating that they should talk there. Mai finally feels Tom-Tom fully falling asleep and closes her eyes for a moment. No way back. 

Ty Lee nearly trips when they walk out on the balcony, still sleepy, and Azula catches her. Mai suddenly feels even more relieved — how can she be afraid of telling them, when they are that  _ familiar _ — she feels like she knows each step, each glance they are going to take. 

They sit on the low armchairs, and Mai nestles Tom-Tom more comfortable on her laps, against herself. He makes a soft sound in his sleep, and she suddenly feels like she’s going to burst.

They sit in silence for a few moments. She sees that Zuko wants to say something, but he lets her speak first. But she doesn’t get a chance to. 

Azula purses her lips, frowns and leans her head a little, like trying to observe Mai at a different angle. 

— Mai, is he your.. son?

No matter how overwhelmed she is by hearing it from Azula, that phrase also makes her head spin — son, her son — she can accept it now, she can announce it, proud, even if only to a few people — but that doesn’t matter, because that’s more than she ever hoped for, and these are her closest people, the closest she has to family. 

— Yes. 

Everything in the world seems to freeze for a moment, and then she’s being knocked down by a pink hurricane. Mai feels Ty Lee cry while she hugs her, being wary of squeezing Tom-Tom, but he’s asleep soundly.

Then Ty Lee leans back, and her face is a mix of the emotions Mai can’t tell apart, but she takes both of Mai’s hands and squeezes them. 

Azula’s face is in a deep stage of shock, and Mai feels her insides shrink, but then Azula puts her hand in her knee, and rubs it, looking Mai straight in the eyes. And Mai breathes out. 

— Did it happen.. on Azula’s birthday?

Ty’s voice is breathy from crying, and Azula’s face whitens — she knows the answer even before Mai nods. She’s silent. Then turns her head to Zuko. 

— Did you kill him?

Mai has an urge to roll her eyes, because that’s Azula — but also some weird feeling inside, overflowing her — because she knows Azula would. 

— He doesn’t exist anymore — not for me, nor for my son. 

Azula closes her eyes, agreeing with whatever Mai has in her head, even though she’s ready to go anywhere and use her firebending, and Mai’s grateful. 

They do not ask why she did not tell them, and Mai is even more grateful. 

Ty Lee then jumps up, and her still glistening eyes light up. 

— Mai, does that mean I’m … officially an aunt?

Mai hears Zuko chuckle, but she hears tears in it too, and that makes it easier for her to accept that she’s crying. 

  
  


//

  
  
  


Next morning she wakes up from the feeling of someone’s looking at her. It’s not a bad feeling, but a bizarre one. Mai opens her eyes, and sees through the morning haze Zuko’s face near hers. She blinks, trying to wake up fully, and pushes him away:

— Go away, you, sap. 

Zuko chuckles, not annoyed even at slightest, and Mai fights an urge to roll her eyes. It’s too early for this bullshit. 

She sits in the bed, taking in Tom-Tom, laying near her. He sleeps in the usual way — arms and legs outstretched, clinging to her in any way he can — he always sleeps like that with her, and she sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night to see him again, there, with her and feels like it’s all a dream which is going to disappear completely in the morning.

And that’s the moment when she remembers what happened last night. Mai winces, but then tries to calm herself. Tom-Tom stirs in his sleep, and she smiles. 

She catches Zuko’s soft eyes on her, and pushes her hair back. Mai gets up and puts her robe on. She covers Tom-tom with a blanket — she’ll let him sleep a little more, because that was a crazy night for him — with all the waking up and yelling. 

Zuko keeps looking at her, and Mai feels her cheeks hotten. 

The room is full of the morning light, and Mai turns her head to the window, looking at the sea — it looks tempting. 

Zuko smiles. 

— We might have time to swim while Tom-Tom sleeps and it’s not hot yet. 

Mai closes her eyes, breathing in the soft morning air from the window and is in the moment from saying “yes”..

— Mama!

Mai’s heart leaps even the second time when she hears it, and she supposed it’s going to for a long, long time. 

She rushes to the bed, where Tom-Tom sits up, rubbing his eyes with his small fists and yawns. Mai sits near him and cards her fingers through his sleep-messed hair, and he nuzzles in her hand. 

She feels her breath catch. 

Zuko behind her laughs and sits on the other side of the bed, and Tom-Tom immediately leaves Mai’s side and clings to his hand. Mai tries to make herself think she feels betrayed, but the Zuko whispers something quietly to her son makes her heart stir in a bizarre way. 

Zuko gets up, picking Tom-Tom up and Mai purses her lips to not laugh. 

— Put him down, he can walk. 

Tom-Tom makes a yelp, expressing his indignation and Mai rolls her eyes. 

//

  
  
  
  


She sits on the warm sand, basking in the sun. Mai tries to calculate at which time it’s going to get too hot for Tom-Tom to be outside. She looks at him and then has to look again — Tom-Tom is busy with building something in the sand and Zuko sits near him, hair out of the topknot, messier than ever. He lifts his head, catches her looking and sends her a cheeky grin. Mai has to look away for a moment. 

Azula and Ty Lee are in the water and seem to be in the middle of a fierce discussion, and Ty splashes water at her. Mai lazily wonders what happened, but the heat makes her sleepy so she closes her eyes for a moment and..

She feels someone near her when she wakes up and opens her eyes. Ty Lee sits on the sand, all warm from the sand and puts her head on Mai’s shoulder. She feels water drip from the ends of Ty Lee’s hair and winces. Not the most pleasant sensation. Azula comes from the other side and sits there too, and Mai finds herself sandwiched between them, her knees touching Azula’s. 

Mai breathes out, looking at Tom-Tom, the feeling of strange calmness washing over her, like the waves on the shore. 

That’s what he will remember when he’ll think of summers — her, and Zuko, and Azula, and Ty Lee as his family, and these mornings, and the way sand used to feel under his bare feet. The smell of the summer town after it rained and waking up to the room, full of sunlight. Mai hopes (knows) he will carry all of it with him through life. 

The sea washes over the sand. 

Mai smiles. 

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: seperent


End file.
